Police to file kidnap raps vs Abu Sayyaf

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — The Sulu provincial police are set to file charges against the Abu Sayyaf in the kidnapping of Jordanian broadcast journalist Baker Atyani.

Sulu provincial police spokesman Chief Inspector Kris Conrad Gutierrez said Atyani has identified the bandits who held him captive for 18 months in the jungles of Sulu.

“We are just awaiting the result of the debriefing that they will forward to us and we are ready to file the necessary charges against those who kidnapped Atyani,” Gutierrez said yesterday.

Atyani was flown out from Sulu by the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) to Manila where he will be handed over to Jordanian officials.

Atyani told the police during his debriefing that Abu Sayyaf commander Jul Asman Sawadjaan plotted his kidnapping in June last year.

Sawadjaan is one of the few surviving Abu Sayyaf commanders based in the jungles of Patikul town. He has been linked to several abductions and attacks as part of the Abu Sayyaf, which has carved a brutal image for beheadings, bombings and ransom kidnappings.

“There’s nothing better than freedom,”’ Atyani said in the hospital, thanking officials and people who worked for his release.

“I can see people around me, I can communicate, I can smile, I can feel that there are people who can understand me... This is the feeling that I have really lost for the last 18 months,” he said.

Sulu military commander Col. Jose Cenabre said Atyani either was freed or escaped from his captors. Atyani said he escaped on his third attempt after sensing that the gunmen had let their guard down.

Cenabre said it was difficult to verify reports that ransom was paid.

Atyani’s Al Arabiya News Channel, based in Dubai, said in a statement that the kidnappers handed him over to a local official and that Philippine authorities would secure his return to Jordan.

Two security officers who dealt with Atyani’s kidnapping said authorities were verifying information that Sawadjaan had grown weak in recent months and died due to an unspecified illness shortly before the Jordanian gained his freedom. The two officers declined to be named because of the sensitivity of their work.

When asked about Sawadjaan, Atyani said he heard that the Abu Sayyaf commander was suffering from a kidney ailment but he was not sure what had happened to him.                           

Gutierrez said operational information was also provided by Atyani, which they cannot reveal yet as they will be using it against the Abu Sayyaf.

The bandit group is still holding at least 17 captives in its jungle stronghold, including two European bird watchers who were kidnapped last year. -AP